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Frances WilsonMusicSeptember 6, 2016London,
The way in to the venue is an unprepossessing entrance beside the PeckhamPlex cinema. There’s a bouncer in attendance and some heavy-duty metal barriers such as one might see at a demo. We ascend a grubby narrow concrete staircase and suddenly we are in a vestibule painted floor-to-ceiling in bubblegum ...

Janos GerebenFilmSeptember 6, 2016San Francisco,
Ruan Ling-yu was among the biggest Chinese silent-film stars, acclaimed, adored, and compared to Greta Garbo. Her brief life - ending in suicide before turning 25 - seems just as mysterious as that of the great "I vant to be alone" Swede (who did manage to live to 85, ...

Emily S. MendelTelevisionSeptember 3, 2016
This appealing drama about Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965) centers on a little known chapter in his fascinating and well-documented life. In June 1953, the great man, then Prime Minister at age 78, suffered a stroke. In a feat impossible today, his family and inner circle, with the collusion of the ...

Paula FarmerBooks & CDsAugust 31, 2016
At the young age of 36, Dr. Paul Kalanithi did more in two years than some do in a lifetime. His motivation was life AND death. In 2013 when Dr. Paul Kalanithi was close to wrapping up a stellar academic career as a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist, and looking forward ...

Michael McDonaghMusicAugust 27, 2016Berkeley,
Life is complicated. More than one thing is going on whether we like it or not. This could be a definition of music too because it's a celebration and a leave-taking and we're always doing both. We say hello as goodbye brushes past. Music is just music or is it? ...

Josh BaxtTheaterAugust 24, 2016San Diego,
Here’s a suggestion: Take a three year break from sins of the flesh, as well as fine food and even sleep, to pursue academics. What, no takers? Welcome to “Love’s Labor’s Lost.”
This ‘intellectual vacation’ is the brain child of Ferdinand, King of Navarre (Jonny Orsini), who recruits ...

Renata PoltFilmAugust 23, 2016
Fritz Bauer isn't exactly a household name in the United States--nor, I suspect, in Germany, his birthplace. And yet it was Bauer, a Jew who fled Germany before the Holocaust and returned after World War II, who tracked down Adolf Eichmann, the initiator and ...

Paula FarmerArt & ArchitectureAugust 23, 2016
Eva Hesse had a short but important and impactful career as one of America’s foremost post-war artists. She was way ahead of her time with a style that was all her own - a post minimalist using mixed media such as fiberglass, latex and plastics. This self-titled documentary, chronicles ...

Emily S. MendelTheaterAugust 17, 2016San Francisco,
“You Never Can Tell” is an early work of Shaw’s, written in 1896, while he was still honing his craft. He wanted to both entertain and educate his audience, and mainly he accomplished this, for the play as written is largely lighthearted and breezy, yet contains sparks of Shaw’s philosophy ...

Karen WeinsteinTheaterAugust 17, 2016Los Angeles,
“Baby Doll?” Does the name sound familiar, but you cannot recall where you saw it? The answer is that “Baby Doll” was originally a screenplay written by Tennessee Williams and directed by Elia Kazan in 1956. It took the current adaptation by Pierre Laville and Emily Mann to bring ...